These images are composites of separate exposures acquired by the ACS and WFC3 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:

The powerful gravity of a massive cluster of galaxies in this Hubble Space Telescope image is producing multiple images of a single distant supernova behind it.

The foreground cluster is acting like a giant cosmic lens, bending and magnifying light from the exploding star in an effect called gravitational lensing.

The enlarged inset view reveals four images of the supernova, spotted on Nov. 11, 2014, arranged around a giant elliptical galaxy within the cluster. The light from the supernova passes so closely to the galaxy's dense core that several light paths are redirected and focused toward Earth. The result is that astronomers see four images that form a cross-shaped pattern called an Einstein Cross. The blue streaks wrapping around the galaxy are the stretched images of the supernova's host spiral galaxy, which has been distorted by the warping of space.

Computer models of the cluster predict that another image of the stellar blast will appear within five years. The red circle marks the possible location of the next supernova image. Astronomers may have missed an earlier appearance of the supernova in 1995, as marked by the blue circle. These multiple appearances of the exploding star are due to the various paths its light is taking through the maze of clumpy dark matter in the galactic grouping. Each image takes a different route through the cluster and arrives at a different time, due, in part, to differences in the length of the pathways the light follows to reach Earth.